Gingercrush raises $1M funding led by Saha Fund

Merchandising and product customization platform Gingercrush has raised $1 million funding led by Saha Fund.

The round came two months after Vadodra-based Gingercrush raised funding from former Infosys board member TV Mohandas Pai. The latest round takes the funds raised by the company so far to about $2 million.

The startup in the Rs 1,500-crore Indian brand licensing industry had until 2015 raised $1 million from Gokul Jaykrishna, joint managing director at Asahi Songwon Ltd, and Brand Capital, a division of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, which publishes The Economic Times.

Makol said the funds raised will be spent on upgrading technology, hiring a new team, development of new product lines and acquisition of customers.

“The merchandising and product customization arena is the next big thing after mainstream retail in India,” said Saumya Nidhi, COO at Gingercrush. “We hope to break through the barriers of competition in the road ahead.”

Gingercrush.com has licences for more than 85 brands, including Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, Scrabble, Barbie and Fido Dido. The company offers consumers customized prints of licensed characters on t-shirts, mugs, stationery and other items.

The startup on Friday said Ankita Vashistha, founder of Saha Fund, has joined the board of directors at Gingercrush, while Pranav Pai, from TV Mohandas Pai’s family office, has joined the advisory board.

With over eight years of experience in private equity and venture capital across the UK, the US and Asia, Vashistha is part of Indian Angel Network and Wavemaker Labs.

Pranav Pai is the senior product manager at EdCast, an ed-tech startup in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is deeply involved with the startup ecosystem in Bengaluru, and associates closely with seed and venture capital investors across several investment categories in India.